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Old 12-11-2014, 12:33 PM   #46
McAllister
 
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Unarmed vs. Knife

Quote:
Originally Posted by Toptomcat View Post
If you're doing, on average, enough damage to cause a Major Wound, and you don't already have a Targeted Attack technique bought, it's not immediately obvious to me that deliberately going for a TA rather than randomly rolling for hit location is a good idea. Skull, face, neck, groin, both legs, the weapon arm, and the weapon hand are all better-than-normal results, likely to end the fight more or less immediately with enough damage for a Major Wound. Torso/nonweapon arm/nonweapon hand's likelihood for stun/knockdown/disability through shock penalties means that you get to attack them again more or less risk-free, which probably ends the fight.

Deliberately targeting hit locations makes most sense when your damage isn't high enough to cause a Major Wound, but is high enough that it might Cripple something critical.

When your damage is high enough to either cause a fight-ending injury or give you a 'free hit' with stun/knockdown/disability through shock penalties, no matter where you hit, it makes most sense to use your surplus skill for something other than a Targeted Attack- like a Deceptive Attack, a Rapid Strike, or keeping skill at 16 for the critical-hit bennies.
Good point. Unless the assailant has armor, High Pain Threshold or high HT, a strike to anywhere other than the torso could be a fight-ender.
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